Third Annual Jesse Pittman 5K Run/Walk honors Willits' Navy SEAL

Ida Pittman tells her son's story in a gentle and thoughtful manner; she's had some years to think about it. After graduating from Willits High School in 2002, Jesse Pittman worked as a firefighter where his father, now retired from Cal Fire, helped him get started in the job.

He worked in Leggett initially, but not finding the work satisfactorily exciting, he transferred to the Auburn Fire Department.

From there he decided he wanted to enlist in the Navy and hired trainers to help pre-train to become a SEAL. He ran, swam, biked and trained in martial arts. He liked to be challenged physically.

When he was 21, he enrolled and was sent to the Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois, where candidates are immediately tested to qualify for SEAL training. His pre-training had prepared him for the difficulties of initiation; he wasn't rattled and passed muster to become part of those who would be transferred to San Diego for the intensive training required to become a SEAL.

After the selection, he was transferred to San Diego with 125 other candidates for basic training to become one of the 30 or so who would make it all the way and receive his Trident.

His first appointment was in Iraq, deployed for six months with SEAL Team 5, and then he was slated to be home for a year. However, he augmented with (was a guest of) SEAL Team 6, the cream of the crop, for a term in Afghanistan. He was gone for a year and his specialty while there was that of a breacher, the person who decides how they will enter a building.

He returned home and then deployed to Yemen, where he started considering becoming an officer and returning to school for his college degree, something that would give him a three- year reprieve from fighting. She says a week before he died he was still talking about college. He was appointed to a higher position over others who had seniority. "He always had leadership qualities," she says.

He returned home for a month and augmented again with SEAL Team 6 to Afghanistan, although he was told there was a platoon leadership position for him in San Diego. He extended his stay.

On Aug. 6, 2011, a rocket- propelled grenade hit the rear propeller of his helicopter as it was landing, and he and 31 others were killed, 17 SEALS and other military personnel including both Americans and Afghanis. Bud, a military dog, was killed that day, as well.

Early that morning, her husband had been on the Internet and heard the news about a helicopter being blown up in Afghanistan.

A friend called to talk about it. They weren't sure but considered the possibility that Jesse had been on that helicopter. Before leaving for Redding they called their neighbor and left a note on his door in case the military came to their home.

Later that day they got a call telling them that their son had died and that Navy personnel were waiting for them at their house.

She and her husband went to Dover Air Force Base in Maryland where, with other families, they met the caskets. When they came home, Jesse's teammates from Seal Team 5 were there to "babysit" them.

"We learned from the chaplain on the team that the Navy is set up to send people to family members of those who have died. They stayed a couple of weeks, until they finished painting my house. I don't think they were used to that, but you can't have A-type men sitting around doing nothing so I put them to work," she says.

"That time to us was extremely valuable in so many different ways.

"We swapped Jesse stories, theirs and ours. I loved that they would joke and tease about the things he did and the pictures we shared with them.

"One of them said if anything had happened to him he would not have wanted SEALS visiting his family, until after he met us. We laughed; we joked. We cried and hugged a lot. Since then we have been invited to their weddings, connected with their babies; they have given their children Jesse's name; they are an extended family to us. It brings me a lot of peace."

It was the men with whom he teamed in Yemen who came up with the idea for the event to honor Jesse and to provide a scholarship for a college-bound high school senior. She got a phone call from Barry Scott, who said he wanted to honor Jesse by setting up a scholarship in his name and would she like to be part of it? Yes.

She connected Scott with The Community Foundation of Mendocino County and it waived the fees for setting up the fund. This year's is the third annual 5K Run/5K Walk starting at Ky-en Recreation Area at Lake Mendocino, Pomo C, at 1250 Marina Drive off Highway 20 on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m.

Individuals can register online atwww.jessepittmanfund.org or they can sign up the morning of the race. Donations are welcome as well and all proceeds go to the foundation that administers the scholarship.

Applications for the scholarship are available at the online site and in order to qualify, eligible Mendocino County seniors in high school must first take a written grit test to determine if the student is cut from the same cloth as Jesse. Test scores are evaluated and packet submissions are evaluated looking at service orientation, biography, two letters of recommendation and a transcript of grades.

Applicants are weeded down to five or six eligible candidates and then engaged in a half hour interview. Last year they selected one who had the spirit of Jesse and one who had his personal characteristics.